Some Do Not Like It Hot: A Proof of Concept of NAB Non-Thermal Inactivation Technologies

Webinar Summary

Non-alcoholic-beer (NAB) requires physical, thermal or chemical preservation to assure food safety, with thermal pasteurisation being the most prominent technology in contemporary brewing. However, thermal pasteurization is suspected to adversely influence beer flavour by reduction of desired thermosensitive aroma compounds, and the formation of Maillard reaction products.

Non-thermal preservation methods like pulsed electric fields (PEF) and high-pressure processing (HPP) achieve microbial preservation in other foods while protecting their thermosensitive quality properties. PEF and HPP may serve as non-thermal alternatives for NAB preservation to maintain aroma and flavour stability.

To evaluate their applicability and inactivation performance, commercial PEF- and HPP-systems were applied to NAB inoculated with different beer spoilage microorganisms. Incubation on differential media showed log4 to log5 germ reduction rates for all microorganisms. The results demonstrate the capability of PEF and HPP to assure microbial safety in NAB while avoiding heat exposure and possible changes in aroma quality.

Learning Objectives

After participating in this webinar, attendees will be able to:

• understand the working mechanism of the non-thermal inactivation technologies Pulsed-Electric-Fields (PEF) and High-Pressure-Processing (HPP).
• understand the extend of inactiavtion potential of these technologies on NAB spoilage microorganisms.
• get insights on the effect of thermal and non-thermal inactivation on NAB quality.

About the Presenter

Florian Schrickel

Versuchs- und Lehranstalt für Brauerei

Inspired by a work experience at a middle-sized brewery in Germany, Florian Schrickel studied Beverage Technology at Hochschule Geisenheim University and Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, both Germany. During his masters, he spent a semester abroad at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, to study Viticulture and Oenology. In 2018, he subsequently started his job at Versuchs- und Lehranstalt für Brauerei in Berlin (VLB) as research associate and consultant. Within VLB, Mr. Schrickel works for the Research Institute for Raw Materials and Beverage Analysis (FIRGA) and is engaged as scientist, lecturer and consultant for brewing-technology. His current major responsibilities cover the management of research- and customer projects on raw materials and new beverage technologies as well as the acquisition of research funds and technological consulting. In 2023, Mr. Schrickel was granted the Barth Haas Grant for a research proposal on the non-thermal preservation of hoppy beers by high-pressure processing (HPP), a project which is currently conducted at VLB. In 2024, he published his first scientific paper on the re-utilisation of spent hops from dry-hopping.